Wes Bentley admits he struggles with Yellowstone role

Wes Bentley has confessed he struggles to play his role in Yellowstone.

The 46-year-old American actor plays James Michael 'Jamie' Dutton in the hit Paramount+ neo-Western drama.

His complex character has been involved in the covering up of crimes and shot another character dead - leaving the American Beauty star struggling to process the scenes he had to portray.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Bentley said, "I love challenges and, as an actor, I've had great challenges in my career, but I've never had one like this. And every scene that (show creator Taylor Sheridan) wrote was some cathartic, emotional challenge."

Explaining why he struggles to process the character he is playing, the actor added, "Jamie is a character I don't really identify well with at all, and have a hard time living with ... he's got a lot of baggage, a lot of heavy things to carry the load with. And so it's been a real challenge in my real life, but not one to complain about."

Yellowstone fans were left gobsmacked when the second half of the fifth season started airing this month with Kevin Costner's lead character John Dutton III meeting an unexpected end - sparking a backlash.

But Costner himself was unmoved by his sudden axing from the show, telling E! News, "(The writers) do what they want to do. That's fine with me."